Student profile numbers are in, and there are increases.

“I think there is a slow change,” said University President Julio León, “but it’s not a dramatic change. If you look through the years, you see certain patterns.”

Dr. Delores Honey, assistant vice president for assessment and institutional research, said the student profile is prepared every year.

“We send it campuswide to show trends,” she said.

Numbers are taken on census day in which the numbers are collected after the fourth week of classes, Honey said. She said the document shows numbers of the students enrolled to degree conferred to the breakdown ethnicity.

“It’s a trend document to try to inform our campus-at-large about the student body we have,” she said.

León said enrollment, which is at 5,675, has started to increase.

“(It) is a very nice thing,” he said.

León said approximately 20 percent of students who have graduated have at one point left the University for a semester or more.

“They are called stopouts,” he said. “One of five students every year at some point has stopped going to school for a semester or more and then they came back and finished.”

León said many times students have financial or family problems or they have to work.

“That’s just an indication the fact this is an institution that while we may have some students leaving the institution many of them come back and eventually graduate,” he said.

León said there has also been an increase in the number of female students, which is at 59 percent. The number of first-time freshmen is at 945. He said a number of students come from Jasper County.

“You add Newton County to that and the percentage increases,” he said.

Known as the feeder counties, it makes up 75 percent of the student body.

“That’s just an indication of what this institution is all about,” he said. “It’s good information to have.”

León said the profile is reflective of the University’s student body.

“It has remained fairly stable,” he said.

León said the factors that brought the student profile numbers up were the name change to a University and the addition of graduate programs.

“(It) affects the way people see the institution,” he said.

León said five years from now the numbers should make a difference.

“It’s too soon to tell,” he said.